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| The first ten amendments to the Constitution. They include rights such as freedom of speech and religion and due process protections (such as the right to a jury trial) for persons accused of crimes. |
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| The fundamental individual rights of a free society, such as freedom of speech & the right to a jury trial, which in the United States are protected by the Bill of Rights. |
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| Clear-And-Present-Danger Test |
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| A test devised by the Supreme Court in 1919 to define the limits of free speech in the context of national security. According to the test, government cannot abridge political expression unless it presents a clear & present danger to the nation's security. |
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| Due Process Clause (of the Fourteenth Amendment) |
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| The clause of the Constitution that has been used by the judiciary to apply Bill of Rights protections to the actions of state governments. |
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| The First Amendment provision stating that government may not favor one religion over another or favor religion over no religion, and prohibiting Congress from passing laws respecting the establishment of religion. |
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| The legal principle that government is prohibited from using in trials evidence that was obtained by unconstitutional means (for example, illegal search & seizure). |
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| A First Amendment provision that prohibits the government from interfering with the practice of religion. |
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| Americans' freedom to communicate their views, the foundation of which is the First Amendment rights of freedom of conscience, speech, press, assembly, and petition. |
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| Imminent Lawless Action Test |
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| A legal test that says government cannot lawfully suppress advocacy that promotes lawless action unless such advocacy is aimed at producing, and is likely to produce, imminent lawless action. |
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| A three-part test to determine whether a law relating to religion is valid under the religious establishment clause. To be valid, a law must have a secure purpose, serve neither to advance nor inhibit religion, and avoid excessive government entanglement with religion. |
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| Publication of false material that damages a person's reputation. |
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| Government prohibition of speech or publication before the fact, which is presumed by the courts to be unconstitutional unless the justification for it is overwhelming. |
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| The constitutional requirement that government must follow proper legal procedures before a person can be legitimately punished for an alleged offense. |
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| A right implied by the freedoms in the Bill of Rights that grants individuals a degree of personal privacy upon which government cannot lawfully intrude. The right gives individuals a level of free choice in areas such as reproduction & intimate relations. |
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| The process by which certain of the rights (for example, freedom of speech) contained in the Bill of Rights become applicable through the Fourteenth Amendment to actions by the state governments. |
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| Spoken falsehoods that damage a person's reputation. |
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| Action (for example, the waving or burning of a flag) for the purpose of expressing a political opinion. |
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